There are 735 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals across Ireland this morning, down 74 from yesterday.
It is the lowest number since 5 March, when there were 673 people in hospital with coronavirus.
The number of people with the virus being treated in intensive care units is 50 - down three since yesterday.
This is the lowest number of patients in critical care with the virus since 30 March, when 49 of those in ICU had Covid-19.
It comes as Minister of State Robert Troy said the new Covid-19 expert advisory group will meet within weeks.
He told RTÉ's Saturday with Katie Hannon this has been confirmed to him by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
Meanwhile, a new study from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (carried out between 18 October 2021 to 14 January 2022) has shown that the number of under-reported Covid-19 cases varies depending on age.
Blood donor samples were tested for antibodies following infection or vaccination.
It is estimated that overall, for people aged between 20 and 79, only seven in 10 infections had been notified on the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) system.
However, the under-reported rates are much higher among younger people - with around half of all Covid cases in 20 to 29 year-olds not recorded on CIDR.
One in every five cases among the 30 to 49 cohort and two in every five of those aged 50 plus were not reported.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service study suggests that Covid-19 cases in adults are around one third higher than the official figure - this currently stands at just under 1.5 million (however, this tally includes children).
The study also shows the success of the HSE's Covid-19 booster vaccine programme, which commenced the week of 26 September 2021, primarily by age and immunocompromised eligibility criteria.
Initially, antibody levels in the over 50 blood donor cohort were lower than in the younger age groups.
However, from 21 November onwards the rates began to increase and by the end of the 12-week period, all three age groups were measuring similar levels of antibodies.
It comes as Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic Covid-19 cases and other areas across China imposed restrictions as the country kept up its "dynamic clearance" approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
In northwestern China, the city of Xian yesterday urged residents to avoid unnecessary trips outside their residential compounds and encouraged companies to have employees work from home or live at their workplace, following dozens of Covid infections this month.
